KARACHI: President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh, while referring to recent relief of Rs14 per unit announced for Punjab province only, urged the government to give a similar relief to Sindh also as the public and business community here are also going through the toughest time of their lives due to unbearably high and extremely torturous electricity bills.
“The Karachi Chamber vociferously appeals President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Federal Minister for Energy Awais Laghari to immediately announce relief in electricity bills for Sindh which has also been contributing matchlessly to Pakistan’s economy”, he added in a statement issued here on Monday.
President KCCI stressed that the federal government will have to realize the hardships being faced by the business community of Sindh where the cost of doing has escalated sharply due to exorbitantly high energy tariffs and their hardships aggravate further when they have to pay huge amounts for fulfilling their water needs which was easily available at nominal charges in Punjab and other provinces.
He said that the hardships for inhabitants of Sindh have worsened to such a level where people have either curtailed their daily meals or taken their kids out of schools so that they could save some money for paying electricity bills which was really awful and a matter of grave concerns for policymakers who usually claim of taking steps to ensure economic prosperity in every nook and corner of Pakistan. “How could a country prosper when children were being taken out of schools and people have no other option but to skip their meals for paying electricity bills”, he asked, adding that this was a very serious issue which will have a deep negative and unhealable impact on Pakistan’s future.
President KCCI stressed that it has become inevitable to immediately reduce electricity tariffs for the inhabitants of Sindh also as it was a matter of survival now, hence, the government must come forward to provide desperately needed relief in the form of substantial reduction in electricity bills for the people and business community of Sindh.
Keeping in view the matchless role and contribution being made by Karachi to Pakistan’s economy, he hoped that the federal government would soon announce relief in electricity bills for the people and the business community of Sindh at the earliest.